Why Walking Is Great For Your Fitness, Body And Mind

Walking can be just as good as running for relieving stress, lowering blood sugar, regulating cholesterol and staving of diabetes and heart disease in the process.

It's easy, requires little to no money so if you’re on a budget and don’t want to shell out for an expensive gym membership, add 150 minutes (30 minutes, five days a week) minimum, to your routine which could even add 3.4 years on to your life. Here are some of the great benefits of walking:

Manage your weight

Walking for a length of time can burn fat and it is actually easier to do this than if you’re jogging. To make sure you get this benefit, you need to find your fat burning pace. Your fat burning pace is one when you’re breathing noticeably but can still sustain a conversation.

It lowers your blood pressure

This is great news for people who suffer from a higher blood pressure than normal but don’t know what to do about it. Walking regularly and for sustained periods of time is a solution to high blood pressure that’s virtually free to take up. Moderate-intensity walking is just as effective as jogging at lowering the risk of high blood pressure.

Less strenuous than walking

Walking at a moderate-intensity pace is a great workout minus the buckets of sweat you’d produce if running or during an intense session at the gym. Because it generates very little or no sweat at all, you have the choice to walk during your lunch break whilst still in your work clothe. So there’s no need to change into a gym clothes for a midday workout!

Walking protects your joints

Walking is a low impact exercise but it’s also, importantly, a weight-bearing exercise. A weight-bearing exercise is one you can perform on your feet that works your muscles and bones against gravity. So walking daily works to both prevent bone loss and strengthen them.

Prevent diabetes

A 20-30 minute walk can lower blood sugar for 24 hours. Used together with a controlled, plant-based and low sugar diet, diabetes can be prevented and can be used in the treatment of diabetes, too.

Mood

Walking is a proven way to elevate your mood. Walking at a moderate-fast past or power-walking increases blood flow all around the body, causes you to take control and focus on your breathing which will lead to a clearer head, release of endorphins, which are feel good hormones, and a much better mood.

Helps beat stress

US researchers found that walking is extremely beneficial for people going through a stressful time such as being unemployed, family or personal issues. Walking for a long amount time and particularly in natural settings, such as in a woodland park or a forest, it allows for a clear head, the brain to properly relax and enter a state of contemplation.

Eases symptoms of depression

Depression is so prevalent in society and with a large proportion of the population suffering from depression at some point in their lives, it’s something that we can all relate to and want to ease.

Walking 30-45 minutes 5 times a week is a good way to improve the symptoms of depression. So is a great non-medical option for people that want to see an improvement in their condition to try.

Keeps you in shape

As long as a healthy diet –which is majority plant-based – is maintained, walking can whip you into shape and keep you fit. It works to improve your muscle tone, works the muscles on your booty, waist and legs. Giving you a figure like Beyonce’s. And who wouldn’t want her figure? We’re definitely in!

Have you been inspired to take up walking? Or you a pedestrian and proud regular walker already? Let us know!